Sunday, 31 August 2014

SAILING ACROSS THE DESERT

Il
Quarto Vuoto began life in Mogliano Veneto, a little town in the
province of Treviso, in 2010. The name of the band means Empty Quarter and refers to the largest sand desert in the world,
encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula.
According to the band, the name was chosen because they say that a
man who walks through that desert has always to face his own limits
and the band's music and lyrics have exactly the goal of creating a
space where the listener can be free to set off on a personal journey
in search for his personal limits. In 2014 Quarto Vuoto self-released
an excellent eponymous debut album with a line up featuring Edoardo
Ceron (bass), Nicola D'Amico (drums), Federico Lorenzon (vocals,
violin), Mattia Scomparin (keyboards, piano) and Luca Volonnino
(guitar). The overall sound is a wonderful mix of different
influences ranging from classical music to hard rock, with a very
personal touch and many original ideas. Well, in my opinion the
beautiful art work by Silvia Volonnino could help to explain what the
music and lyrics are about...

album cover

The
opener “Dimmi solo se è così” (Just tell me if it's so) is the
shortest track on the album and alternates powerful guitar riffs and
calmer passages with soaring melodic lines. The music and lyrics
evoke a sudden change in your life and you risk to get drowned into a
sea of dreams while the naked truth of reality starts wildly dancing
around you. You're stranded but it's too late to change the course of
your fate, you can't relive the past and Time takes you away... “I
would like to listen again / To the life running in me / And to start
over again to carve my name / Into the heart of this reality...”.

Next
comes the beautiful “Zattera della Medusa” (The Raft of the
Medusa), a complex piece divided into two parts that evokes the
colours and the emotions of the 19th-century painting of the same
name by Théodore Géricault. The painting was inspired by the wreck of a
French frigate off the coast of Senegal in 1816 and illustrates the
vain hope of rescue, a view of human life abandoned to its fate. The
first part of this long track, “Il giorno della notte” (The day
of the night) is completely instrumental, it begins softly, the
atmosphere is dark and you can feel rise a sense of impending
tragedy. The second part, “Il grido di una vita” (The scream of a
life), begins after the shipwreck and the music and lyrics depict the
gloomy destiny of the survivors. Everything has changed, in the
twilight the certainties of the castways crumble while they seem to
sail across the Styx, towards the gates of Hell, in a crescendo of
regrets and madness... A great track!

Quarto Vuoto on stage

The
album ends with the charming epic “Rub' al-Khali” (Empty
Quarter), a kind of manifesto of the talent of this excellent band.
The music features an outstanding brew of exoticism and classical
flavour while the poetical lyrics lead you through hidden, obscure
paths towards a new sunrise to take your dreams back, overcoming
fears, burning ties and useless memories... “Now you know who you
are / Now you know what you want / Source of happiness, light that
sets you free / From your black, murky past / Now you'll be able to
live...”.

On
the whole, this is a magnificent album even if a bit short. If you
like modern Italian progressive rock that’s based on classic prog
but it's not stuck in the past, you really have to check this band
out.

Quarto Vuoto: Quarto Vuoto (2014). Other opinions:Todd Dudley:Overall, this is a very engaging album, which not only whets the appetite for what's to come from the band,
but it's a very satisfying treat in and of itself... (read the complete review HERE) Michael "Aussie-Byrd-Brother": For now, this self-titled work suggests a superb new band to keep
an eye on and launches them in a very fine manner. If they're already this good, imagine what they
may deliver with a full-length proper album?... (read the complete review HERE)